The Democrats’ plastic bag ban deprives you of choice and charges you for the free bag they haven’t banned–yet.

First the bag banners said bags were killing marine life by the hundreds of thousands. When that proved untrue, the bag banners pivoted to ‘garbage island’ that churned with plastic bags in a gyre “twice the size of Texas” just off “the Oregon coast.” When we busted them for lying, they came back with new nomenclature. They were no longer merely plastic bags, they were ‘single use‘ plastic bags which MUST BE STOPPED! When people examined their lives and determined that can’t be right, I use those bags to pick up Skipper’s poop from the yard or on our walks, they pivoted to another whopper: there are drifts of evil, single use, plastic bags EVERYwhere.

Except not.

For example, when I asked listeners to KOGO Radio to call me with a litter report, a bicyclist said he’d been keeping track of litter on the side of the road. His report? Drink containers outnumbered bags at least four to one. This kind of result happens all the time. Do your own survey and you’ll discover this is just puffed up claim to sell the ban. Another ‘look over there’ move to decoy you into thinking something important is going on here. And it’s not.

If drink containers (in Oregon it was fast food bags) outnumber plastic bags on the sides of the roads and in parks, why aren’t these elected geniuses banning that stuff? Because you’d get really po’d at them, that’s why. You might actually show up to vote and turn them out. It’s a power grab to reduce your choices, it’s a low risk bill that, to some, looks like something but is no more substantial than the bag they’re trying to ban.

I’ve written endlessly about this issue here, here,here,here ad nauseum. Been there, done that. Now you will too, California. Unless you stop them.

Here’s the reaction to the passage of the Assembly Bill by the pro choice folks at the American Progressive Bag Alliance:

The American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA) issued the following statement from Executive Director Lee Califf after the California State Assembly voted 44-29 to advance Senator Alex Padilla’s statewide plastic bag ban, SB 270, which now moves to the State Senate floor for a concurrence vote.

“It’s disappointing that members of the Assembly voted to advance a bill that threatens 2,000 California manufacturing jobs, hurts consumers and puts billions of dollars into the pockets of grocers – without providing any benefit to the environment.

We hope the members of the State Senate exercise better judgment by supporting California jobs and working families and voting down this terrible bill.”

I’ve been sending numerous messages to the governor both electronic and snail mail against this IDIOCY! No response from him or his minions. As much as I hope he does not sign I will not be surprised if he does. The APATHY, IGNORANCE & STUPIDITY of the California electorate willing to let the political class crap & piss all over them is unfortunate but not surprising.

We fought against bag bans at the local level for the past 2 years. Our evidence and facts were ignored, as city councils voted for bag bans “because it felt like the right thing to do”.
This is about control, not the environment. And by bribing big stores to get on board (with our 10 cent “fees”, which are really just avoiding California law prohibiting new taxes without a vote), and painting the plastic industry as “evil”, they pushed through this nanny-state law WITHOUT A SINGLE VOTE FROM A CITIZEN!

Over 100 cities passed bag bans, but NONE of them had the guts to put it to a vote of the citizens.

They count on the complacency of the people, and they are right. Everyone grumbles and complains, but they know people won’t do anything. Repeal efforts take money, and unless some organization steps up to fund getting this to a vote of the people, the people will never get the chance to speak.

Then they will move on to bottled water, napkins, plastic utensils, and anything else they decide is “unworthy”, no matter how much inconvenience it causes us. After all, they rule over us. Who are we to complain?

According to my informal polls–of friends, fellow shoppers, etc.–9 in 10 people oppose plastic bag bans! (2 in 10 use cloth bags, but think it should be a choice.) Just out of curiosity, how does statewide & nationwide polling run on the issue? Any official stats? Seems like most of us are prochoice; maybe we should tell the politicians!

My hunch was correct. Moonbeam confirmed in the so-called ‘debate’ with Khashkari yesterday that he WILL sign the plastic bag ban bill currently on his desk. No surprise.

Since I long ago lost all faith in the voters of this state and that as Voltaire once said that ‘common sense is not so common’, the only recourse I see is a lawsuit if one is feasible. I am more than willing to be the lead plaintiff in that lawsuit.

Whether someone or some business in this state steps up to the plate in this regard is unknown at this time. However, I’d like to believe that I’m not the only one in this state who refuses to be steamrolled, and unlike myself has the resources to take this to the next level. After all, average people are fighting the B.S. train to nowhere and are making progress.